Maria's new life
by Mitchi Takahashi
Summary: Maria came from a rich family who threw her out onto the streets to fend for herself. Walking towards Head Quaters in central Maria bumps into a very familiar chibi, little does she know that her life is going to change for the better or is it? 13 is out!
1. Mistakes

_ I will not make the same mistakes that you did. _A young girl glared at a man's retreating

back thinking furiously, _I would never leave my own family on the street because of _

_something so minute!_ The girl blinked her burning eyes, fighting the urge to cry. "I hope

you are happy, now Father!" she flung the cruel words out. The man walking away from

her hesitated for a second then continued walking away. The girl struggled against the

ropes that bound her hands and feet, finally giving up, and then an idea popped into her

head. She quickly started to scribble a shaky transmutation circle in the ground she

placed her hands on the sides of it the best she could and willed it to work. A flash of

blinding blue light told her that she had succeed as the ropes slunk away from her hands

and turned to ashes on the ground. Her hands moving quickly she untied the ropes on her

feet and forcing her cramped legs to support her weight she stood up. She began to move

stiffly but soon was moving at a painful sprint as her leg muscles threatened to give out,

she soon collided with a man in a dazzling blue uniform, his hands tucked into his

pockets. She fell to the ground and blink in surprise looking up at the man's face, it was

the hard face of a solider, but it showed the kindness of a gentleman. The she saw the

badge sown onto his thick fall coat, and felt her face flush. She hurriedly dropped her

head to the ground in a polite bow and managed to squeeze out a weak apology to the

military officer in front of her.

He sniffed at her and grabbed her by the elbow forcing her to stand up, "Please don't

ever bow to me, I am not the type of person who expects one too." He said with a

lopsided smirk.

The girl was surprised to see that standing up she was a full head taller then the

person who stood in front of her. "I am sorry, Sir. I was just surprised, that's all." She

braced herself, ready for a smack on the face, when none came she looked down into the

man's face, he was smiling.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Maria, Maria Silva." The girl responded, drawing her self up, the Silva name

was well respected and it would probably be days before the man found out that she had

been cast out of the family, and by that time she expected to be long gone.

"Edward Elric, state alchemist," said the stranger smiling at her.

Maria was stunned, "You're the noob?"

"Who you calling a noob?" shouted the boy, clearly offended.

"Sorry, I just expected someone taller for the new alchemist." Snickered Maria,

amused by the boy's reaction.

"Who you calling so small that you couldn't see with out a magnifying glass!"

shouted Edward, straining to get at her as a metal arm wrapped around his waist to keep

him from her. The small boy struggled some more, kicking the air and flailing about,

before he started to calm down.

Maria took a step back in surprise and looked up to see a large metal helmet look

down at her from on top on a large metal body, and fainted.

…………………………………………..

"Is she alright?" said the voice to the right of Maria as she groggily started to

wake.

"Shut up! She is waking," said a very commanding voice that had the obvious

hint of boredom in it.

Maria sat up, her eyes flying open. "Where am I?" she asked worried looking

around at the unfamiliar place, it appeared to be an office with a small couch on which

she was placed, it had a large table, a desk with lots of clutter on it, some randomly

placed chairs, a bookcase on the far wall and many strange people lounging around the

room in no apparent order. Some looked bored and some looked just plain, well,

uninterested, such as one was having more fun seeing how many puffs of a cigarette he

could hold in his mouth before he started to cough while another thought that writing up

some reports was more interesting then the unconscious girl laying (now sitting up, fully

awake) on the couch.

"Calm down," commanded a voice that belonged to a man sitting at the desk, his

dark hair falling over his eyes as he scribbled something on a piece of paper, "You're in

my office, so don't touch anything."

"Oh, nice Roy, how mannered you are to someone who just woke up," mumbled

the short boy, Edward… remembered Maria.

"Your office, and who are you? All I can remember is bumping into the chibi

while walking to the military head quarters in Central."

"Don't call me so short that a bug could squash me!" started Ed but he was

drowned out by the flood of questions that came from the people around the room, all

aimed at her.

"Quiet!" said the man behind the desk loudly, "You said you were on your way to

the head quarters, why?" he demanded directing his comment at the girl.

Maria was caught of guard, so she didn't try to make any excuses, "I was on my

way to head quarters to talk with a colonel Mustang, also known as the Flame Alchemist.

I want to become his apprentice. I was already told by a state alchemist that I had what it

takes to become a state alchemist but he said my style of alchemy was strange and that I

needed strange teacher."

"Why did you choose Colonel Mustang?" said the man behind the desk his eyes

narrowing, everyone turned to look at Maria who was fighting a blush that threatened to

make her face look like a raspberry.

"I have my reasons…" mumbled Maria nervously.

"Then lets hear them."

"I thought that maybe he would teach me since his style of alchemy is the one that I

thought was the best! The attack works extremely well because, one it surprises the

enemy with the heat and light that the attack causes, and two because it deals with the

manipulation of an ELEMENT!" said Maria quickly, responding to the man's stern tone

of voice.

"The man at the desk looked slightly shocked and replied, "How do you know all

this about the attack that the Flame Alchemist uses?"

"I did my homework.," was the snippy reply, everyone's eyes grew wide, no body

had EVER responded to the Colonel that way except for Ed, but he had soon learned his

mistake.

The man's eyes narrowed and he snapped his gloved fingers sending a stream of

flame shooting towards the girl. Surprised Maria held up her hand, the flame caught into

her hand and formed into a small ball. Maria smirked at the man behind the desk who had

flushed and said to the flames simply, "Return." The fire then took its cue and flew at the

surprised person behind the desk singing his jacket to reveal a bright blue uniform with

small gold stars on the shoulders and the man quickly removed it trying to beat the flames

from consuming the jacket.

Maria gasped and ran over to the jacket, laying her bare hand over the growing

flames extinguishing them with a small puff of smoke.

Suddenly a laugh broke out from the small blonde boy who was still sitting next

to the couch, "Mustang! You got owned!" he managed to shout before his laughing made

him fall over gasping for air. Maria barely heard him she was too busy inspecting the

hole that she had made in the jacket.

"This won't do at all," she whispered pinching the fabric of the jacket and pulling

it to cover the hole.

"I don't think that the jacket would fit the same if you plan to sew it like tha-" The

colonels voice trailed off as Maria let go of the fabric revealing the threads had started to

grow weaving themselves together in order to fill the hole. When they were done the

jacket looked as if it had never been scorched. "How the hell…"


	2. Proving herself

"Colonel, calm down!" shouted Riza at the top of her voice as Roy started to rant about, haw he never knew that one girl would know so much and do things without equivalent exchange, or something like that.

Suddenly it dawned on Maria, "Colonel, Roy, you're the Flame Alchemist, that's why you wanted to know so much about why I was coming here and my reasons!""Are you just figuring that out girl?" asked the man with a cigarette in his mouth.

Maria shout him a glare that would kill if it could, "Wow, your glares rival Ed's over there," said Hawkeye, smirking. "If you want a gun to make a deadly picture I'll teach you how to hit the target every time," she added after a quick glance at the girl.

Maria turned around "I don't think I need a gun, I have something more powerful and I am very accurate with it."

"And what might that be?" said Roy doubtful.

"I will gladly show, but I need and open space in order to do it with out ruining your nice office, Colonel" said Maria dragging the Colonel out as if she was making fun of him.

Roy's eyes flashed with anger. "Very well, Maria, I'll take you out to the practice area." He strode towards the door past Maria quickly causing her to have to almost run to keep up with him. _It must be worse for Ed, _she thought thinking about the Chibi that was struggling to catch up, and she stopped in front of the boy.

"I have a question for you," she said as she stepped to the side so that she was walking next to him.

"And it is?"

"How did you meet this bastard Colonel?" she said simply and directly.

"Ed processed the last words that she had said and started to chuckle, "and here I thought that I was the only one who thought he was a bastard." On a more serious note he added, "I met him a few days after I lost my arm and leg, which is why they call me Full Metal, because I have auto-mail."

"Oh, I wasn't able to mind anything out about your name in the library, but now I understand." Said Maria comprehending quicker then some of the adults that Ed had seen before, _she is much more understanding then most people, I wonder what happened to her that she was in the streets alone?_ He thought to himself looking up at the strangely tall girl. "Thank you for helping me by the way." Said Maria suddenly looking down at the boy kindly, Ed felt a blush start to rise into his cheeks.

"I-it was no problem." He said avoiding her blue eyes.

Maria smiled as they arrived out in a large open area.

"Here we are" said the Colonel sharply, still upset about earlier.Maria swallowed and walked out into the center of the area so she was pretty far from everyone else who was emerging from the building. Closing her eyes she held her hands out in front of her, her pointer finger touching the palm of her left hand. She threw her left arm out to the side smiling as heat surged out of her fingers forming into a whip-like strand of flames, she snapped her right arm out, her smile growing, as she felt coolness spring form her right hand forming into a type of long sword made out of freezing cold ice. She brought the whip around striking the ground with a loud snapping sound and slashed through the air with her sword at the same time, the blade growing until it reached out a yard in front of her and assumed a fighting stance. She moved forward quickly using a fighting pattern of parries, blocks, jabs, sweeps and strikes all the time moving the flame whip around to cover her from all sides, not allowing one opening in her stance in which a person could attack. Speeding up she started to bring cartwheels, jumps, flicks, kicks, and punches into her movements. She moved quickly around the court and flicked her blade out causing a large projectile of earth to fly out of the ground and smash against one of the practice targets. She did this several time and on the last flick sent daggers of rock flying out striking all the heads in the dummies. She quickly acted as if arrows were flying at her starting to duck and roll, never once earning a scratch from the ground, whip or sword. She started to feel tired and decided to end the routine jumping into the arm, landing in a one-handed handstand and doing a series of back flips which lead into a summersault. She struck the ground causing sparks to fly as she sent a burst of air all around her causing all the dummies to explode with the force that it sent splinters into the air. She stood gasping for air, blinking her eyes as she took the whip and caused it to wrap around the large blade causing it to melt then she dropped the whip and twitched her fingers causing the puddle to lift of the ground and extinguish the fire. She dropped to the ground on her knees, feeling slightly weak. Suddenly the sound of cheering came to her ears and she looked towards the door of the building to see that a large number of people had come out of the building to watch her. She got up shakily and started to walk over to Ed and the others, Ed was smiling and Riza nodded her approval before walking forward and catching the girl before she feel.

"You must be tired," she commented quietly in Maria's ear, helping her inside.

"Exhausted!" panted Maria as Ed came up to her to support her other side, "And I don't need more help, Ed, I can walk somewhat" she protested before she stumbled and feel to the ground.

"Obviously not as well as you think you can," said the Chibi smirking as he and Riza helped her up. Maria sighed and looked at both of them before smiling. _I haven't even been here a day and already I have two good friends._


	3. Shopping

Maria wolfed down the food that Ed had brought her as she tried to ignore the look that Roy was giving her. When she was done she set down her fork and knife and looked at Roy, "You have been looking at me like that since you came in, just spit out what ever the hell you want to say already."

Roy barely flinched at the agitation in Maria's words, instead he started to smile. "It seems that for a Silva, you don't have the lady-like manners." He commented coolly.

"Fuck the lady-like manners; my family always said I had the mouth of a sailor and the manners of a dog. They threw me out like a dog as well, so why should I start acting nicely now?" said Maria harshly then she clapped a hand to her mouth and blushed. _Damn it, damn it, damn it, why did I have to let it slip that they threw me out, why? _She thought as Ed's jaw dropped, Riza's hand twitched towards her gun, and Roy's eyes flashed at the part about being thrown out. Everyone else in the room hushed as all eyes turned towards the Colonel to see what his next move would be.

"They threw you out?" he asked coldly, "Why?"

"Because my brother saw me do alchemy in order to help a girl on the street who almost got run over by a car, he told my parents. My father tied me up and carried me off into an alley down near the train station where he left me. I used fire to get free of my bonds before someone found me and started to head towards here, that's when I found Ed. I doubt anything you or anyone else says to them will make them take me back. If they so much as see me again I will probably be beaten," Maria mumbled as she took her hand away from her mouth.

Roy sniffed, "Humph, well then, Havoc find a dorm that is not being used, Maria, do you have any possessions or change of clothes?"

"No, and probably no possessions any more, my father will have had them burned by now."

"Riza, take her to the clothing shop, I will give you a money purse for her."

'Yes Sir." Was the polite reply as Riza stood and walked towards the colonel as he fished in his drawer for his wallet. Riza stood patently as Roy found the wallet and slowly placed money into Riza's palm.

"I want the change, if there is any." Riza nodded and strode out the door Maria hurriedly stood up and followed.

As they were turning onto Main street Maria tugged on Riza's sleeve, "Follow me, I know a place where I hid some things of mine. My father doesn't even know that I ever went there so they should be safe." Riza nodded and they turned off into an alley way walking quickly towards an abandoned lumber yard. "My family abandoned the lumber yard here just like they abandoned me," said Maria as she rummaged around under a pile of logs pulling out a small sack and some very old books. "I found the books in the bookstores dumpster, some of the pages are missing, but other then that they are fine," she explained to Riza who had looked at the books and raised an eyebrow. A nod was her only reply. "That's all of it. Let's go now, before someone sees us."

They arrived at the clothing store only a few minutes later and Maria automatically went into the men's section. "Shouldn't you be looking through the women's section for clothing?" asked Riza.

"Why would I, their pants and shirts are only made to look nice, the men's clothing is sturdier and better to work in." scoffed Maria.

Riza nodded her head and looked at a pair of dark blue pants, "These would probably look nice on you, they match your eyes." She said. Maria glanced at them, then took them from Riza, she turned one pant leg inside out and examined the seams, with a nod she handed them back to Riza and said "The seams are well sown, the fabric is also double layered (1). You have a very good eye for sturdy clothing, Riza," she complemented as Riza blushed. The man at the counter looked at Maria and Riza strangely when they put the clothes they were going to buy in front of him.

"Buying for a family member?" he asked politely.

"No, we are buying for me," Maria replied with a smile, the man just gaped at her then he sniffed. He started to check the price of each item before telling them how much they owed. Riza silently handed over the coins and watched as the man put the clothes in a bag and hand them to Maria.

"Whore." He mumbled when Maria took hold of the bag, "You don't know your place at all do you." Maria froze and Riza's hand flew to her gun.

About to pull her gun out of its holder but stopped when she looked at Maria. She felt coldness radiating from the girl as her grip tightened on the Bags handle. The man didn't notice and he refused to let go of the bag, "You shouldn't have even come here, I knew you were bitch the moment you stepped into this shop and I will not allow you to leave with my clothes." Maria smiled and grabbed his wrist with her free hand and pressed her nail in between the tendons.

"We have already payed sir, so you will be a gentleman and allow me to take my things or I will have my friend here arrest you before I do something much worse." Each word seemed to be dripping with venom as Maria tightened her grip digging her long nails in further. She smiled sweetly as the man let go of the bag pulling the bag away she let go of his wrist, "Don't ever try that trick again sir, or I will tell my family. I am sure you know the name Silva, right?" the man paled as Maria stalked away followed by a very confused Riza.

"Why did you tell him that you would tell your family if he ever did that again? Your family cast you out, won't he find that out?"

"Probably not, my family keeps to themselves and no one in my family would ever shop there anyways. They all shop at that new foreign store _The François Decaponta._" Maria carried out the strange name as she chuckled. "The clothing there is twice as expensive for the same things, it is because the fact that it is new that they shop there."

Riza smirked and started on the way back to the office, "Lets go back to the office then shall we,l I have had my fill of shopping for a while." Maria smiled back at her and shouted "Last one there can kiss the Colonel!" as she ran off down the street trying to get a head start on Riza. _That wouldn't be such a bad thing, wait what am I thinking! Yes it would be!_ Thought Riza as she started to follow Maria down the street.

(1) I added in some cothing advice in this section. Maria had looked at the seams and the weaving of the cloth, the thicker the thread and the smaller the stitching is while still leaving about a half inch of extra fabric where it can be taken in or let out means that the seams will hold up better then clothing that doesn't have as good seams and the weave of the clothe counts because the tighter the weave the warmer and less able to be torn the cloth is. Maria would have also been taught to look at the qualite of clothing as a member of one of the riches t familys.


	4. Winry

"You can be my apprentice as long as you, one, become a state alchemist when your training is complete, and two, if you take fighting classes with my team that way we can all see how much you can actually do without your fancy weapons," said Roy looking at Maria's happy face. Maria bowed to him almost as low as she would to a person of great status and Roy swallowed a gasp, _she bowed to me like she would bow to the fuehrer! _Roy looked at Riza and she nodded at him, "Havoc, please show Maria to her dorm and help her get settled. Yes that means you have to help her unpack her tings and put them away not just make sure she doesn't hurt her self doing it herself."

Havoc sighed and beckoned for Maria to follow when she stopped bowing. Maria stood up bowed once more quickly to Roy and almost ran after Havoc.

Roy sighed looking at the closed door, "Why is it that girls have a tendency to be so grateful when someone does something for them?"

Ed snickered, "She was only being grateful to you because it means she won't have to go back out onto the streets. Which I'm sure that Riza over there wouldn't have let happen," Riza blushed and seemingly was very interested in the report on her desk more then the conversation between chibi and colonel not realizing the paper in front of her was upside down. Roy laughed outright at this and Riza turned her head in order to give him a glare that would peel paint smirking when Roy stopped laughing.

"Roy, why is it that girls seem to beat you at everything lately?" said a woman in the doorway with a large suitcase over her shoulder, "First I hear that your jacket was ruined by a girl who controlled your fire that was shot at her and then she fixed your jacket without equivalent exchange. And NOW you are being silenced by a woman with a very lovely glare. Wow Ed, you seem shorter then you usually do, why don't you try some milk?" The girl laughed as Ed started to turn red and was held back again by the large suit of armor (Who until now had been ignored). "Hello Al, your brother keeping you on your toes?"

If Al had been human he would have blushed but being a suit of armor he just sighed "Yep, so winry what brought you here? I thought that you were still in Rizenbul?"

"I just had the strange feeling that Ed here was in trouble and was probably going to need either my mechanic expertise or a hit in the head with my wrench," yawned the girl, "So Ed, you have a guest room right, or are you going to pay for me to stay in a lovely high class hotel?"

Ed grumbled, "I'll show you to the dorm, I'll take the couch." Al just snickered.

Maria was busy putting clothes into her closet as Havoc sat on her bed interested in the ceiling. "You now, I can't help you with anything if you tell me that I can't touch anything of yours."

"Well, I like to do things myself, I wouldn't even allow the maids to clean my room when I lived in the Silva mansion, and my room was cleaner then everything else still."

"Do you think you will still have the energy to clean your house so nicely when things start to pick up?" his only response was being hit in the head with a book that was thrown at him. Suddenly Maria looked towards the door and smirked. Creeping quietly she put her ear to the door and snickered. In the flash of an eye the door flew open and she yell "CHIBI!" at the top of her voice.

Havoc was confused for a moment before he heard a familiar voice in the hall starting to scream.

"I AM NOT SO SMALL THAT WHEN YOU SLAM OPEN A DOOR I CAN"T GET HURT BECAUSE IT WILL PASS OVER MY HEAD!" Havoc started to laugh so hard that he fell off the bed and Maria started to cry from her laughing. It was the first time that Havoc had seen Maria have a good time, even when she was proving to the Colonel that she could take care of herself she had acted business like. Suddenly the screaming stopped and there was a loud thunk. Maria stopped laughing a straightened, "Hello, I'm Maria," she said to someone in the hall that Havoc couldn't see.

Havoc wasn't really sure what had happened but soon a young girl with long blonde ponytails was setting up her things in Maria's second bedroom. Ed was still unconscious on the couch, Havoc had offered to pick him off the ground when Maria strode past him and slung the small boy over her shoulder, Havoc was still impressed with the new girl. Little did anyone know that they were being watched; a long haired person snickered their long emerald hair shading their face, "So this is the new alchemist that Dante said could make the stone."


	5. Envy and a Fighting Lesson

"Are you positive that she will be able to do this, Master?" asked a long haired woman in a cathedral like hall.

"I am quite positive Lust, Pride (1) and Envy both have seen examples of what she can do with alchemy. My suggestion is that you all should keep an eye of this Maria girl," said Dante leaning against a desk.

Lust nodded and started out of the room. At the door she turned around, "One more thing Master, what do you wish of the Elric boys if we have a new candidate?" she asked.

"Leave them be for now, two leads is better then one. And who knows, maybe those Elric boys will brow a spine and make one soon."

Lust nodded and left the room, the doors making a loud click as the shut behind her. Dante sighed and sat down in her lounge chair. She drew up her sleeve and looked at the rotting flesh of her body, "Let us just hope someone makes one soon, let us just hope," she murmured to herself letting the sleeve fall back into its normal place.

…………………………………………………………..

"Now Maria, let's see how much fighting you know without weapons," said the colonel taking a fighting stance.

Maria smiled and stepped towards him; she reached out a hand and plucked the gloves off of Roy's hands. "And let's see how good of a fighter you are without alchemy."

Roy blanched as Maria handed the gloves to Riza. "Begin!" shouted the on lookers and Maria started to circle Roy, waiting for him to strike first. Roy was not a man of great patience; Maria was a person who possessed too much. Roy grew tired of waiting for Maria to strike and punched out at her earning him a punch to the ribs from the girl who had blocked his blow as if swatting at a fly. She grabbed his arm and twisted it around so that his hand was touching the middle of his back as she kicked out landing a blow to his lower stomach. Jumping back quickly Maria laughed, "It seems that you are a little more then rusty, old man."

Roy growled low in his throat at the jest of his age and moved towards Maria lashing out with his hand catching her across the cheek. Maria cursed fluently and stepped back before running at the colonel and ducking under his arm and kicking him in the back. Roy fell forward into the mud and stood cursing trying to wipe mud out of his face. Maria waited patently as he got back into a fighting stance before coming at him; he almost landed a punch on her face when she kicked his arm out of the way and ducked down lashing out with both her feet knocking him once again to the ground. Taking a chance she jumped on top of him and bringing her hand down so that it stopped an inch away from his nose while her other hand rested on his throat. Roy smiled, "It seems that I have been once again, beaten up by a girl." Maria smiled and stood up, not carrying that she had dug her knee into his groin in doing so, Roy gasped a curled up in a small ball, holding the injured area. Riza came forward and picked the colonel up by the collar and marched him back into the office to care for his wounds. Maria rushed after them to help Riza.

"I guess that you do know how to fight," Ed said in Maria's ear, surprising her.

"Wow Ed, I didn't know that you were tall enough to be able to reach my ear."

"What did you just say?" Ed started to scream at her as Maria laughed her head off. Winry came up behind Ed hitting him on the back of the head with her wrench; making Maria laugh harder. Winry smiled at Maria and then gasped.

"Maria, you took quite the blow on your cheek! It is swollen and everything!" Maria touched her throbbing cheek to find Winry was right, sighing she mumbled something that sounded and awful lot like she didn't need to be coddled by others. Maria soon found that Winry wasn't one to give up when she wanted something; just as she had wanted Maria to have and icepack on her cheek. No matter how much Maria insisted she didn't need one Winry made her use one anyways, leaving a snickering colonel in the corner.

Maria glared at him and said "Wow, you really have a lot to laugh about, don't you Colonel Mud." That shut him up quickly. "I'm going to go out for a walk, I need a little time to my self," stated Maria headed to the door. Nobody objected to this, they all figured she could use some time to figure out what she would do next.

Maria was turning onto Main street when she stopped, she had the feeling she was being watched. She made it look as if she was deciding which way to go when she turned around quickly catching a man off guard. He spotted her looking at him and took off at a run, his emerald hair flying behind him as Maria followed. He had forgotten about her skills until a bubble of rock grew up encasing him. He punched at the rock trying to escape but when ever he broke through it regrew before he could get out. "Why were you following me?" Maria panted.

"It is none of you beeswax!" was the snotty reply.

"Oh great, I captured a person who has the come backs of a three year old."

"Hey! I do not have the come backs of a three year old!" he shouted.

"I'll take it back if you tell me your name." Maria hadn't thought that that would actually work with this man, she was proven wrong.

"My name's Envy, NOW TAKE IT BACK!" was the angry reply.

Maria was shocked and she quickly told the man that she took it back. _This man seems really immature. Why was he following me? _"Envy, that's a nice name. I wish my name was as interesting as that." Maria figured that she would go for the nice treatment instead of the interrogation style.

Envy just sighed, "Good for you, now let me go."

"No."

"Why not!"

"I want to know why you were following me," Maria raised an eyebrow.

"I won't tell you! Just let me go!"

Maria sighed, "Only if you tell me why you were following me."

"NO!"

"Then I guess we will both be out here a while. Maybe I should call Ed to help me…"

"No! Don't call the Full metal Pipsqueak!" Envy shouted as his face flushed.

"Oh and why not?" Maria asked nicely realizing she had hit a nerve.

"Cause I hate him, and I was following you because I found out that he had taken a liking to you! I wanted to see why he would have."

Maria narrowed her eyes knowing that would be the best answer she would get from this person. "Very well, I will release you, under one condition."

"What's the condition?" Envy said warily.

"That you come shopping with me."

"WHAT!"

"I want to get to know you better, anyone who knows someone I know is worth getting to know, whether they like the person or not. It helps me to decide whose side I'm on." Maria said reasonably.

"Fine." Said Envy knowing by her tone that she wouldn't be easily persuaded, _I'll just escape the minute she lets me out of this stupid rock._ He thought.

"And just to make sure you won't escape." The rock snaked out and latched onto Envy's wrist and wouldn't break no matter how hard he pulled on it. Envy muttered a curse and wondered how Maria would know that Envy would have tried to escape the first chance he got.

Maria smiled wetly as the rock sank back into the ground leaving a small trail of rock that reached into the ground. Maria twitched her fingers and the root of the rock moved towards her pulling envy along.

Maria brought Envy to the food stall with her, where she bought him some rice with fried pork; he wolfed it down even though he didn't need to eat. She brought him to almost every single stall in the market just for the fun of it, the whole time Envy was muttering under his breath. Envy was sure that Maria was just another girly-girl until a woman passed by her and then looked away quickly, Maria noticed right away and stopped. She turned quickly and ran towards the woman stepping in front of her with a look on her face that scared even Envy. "Mother, what are you doing here?" she asked as the woman cringed and refused to look at the girl's face.

A/N: (1) I mentioned Pride in there because I figured that he would have seen Maria fighting at the head quarters if he had been inspecting the officers on his "special" brigade which you will find out about in a later chapter.

Yes I know that this chapter sucks right now, I was just trying to bring Envy into the story and I made him seem WAY out of character, but oh well. And if you can't tell I am going to be showing the homunculus the story of Maria's past which will cause him to realize how much alike they are which will make a future event make more sense. And again, I am sorry for the sloppy job, I'll edit it if I get to many complaints about it not making sense!


	6. Parents and Friends

The woman looked at her daughters face and started to cry, shrinking back from her. "Maria, darling, I didn't think you would be here."

"If I remember right you aren't supposed to be here either," Maria's words seemed to drip poison as Envy looked at the two women.

"I came here because they had a new, a new… I shouldn't be talking to you. Go away before someone sees you talking to me, bitch," said the woman having a sudden change in attitude.

"Just because father is behind me doesn't mean that I should be afraid or that you should ACT brave, mother. If you remember you had to bind me in order to leave me because there is no way that anyone could have thrown me from the house with out me fighting my way back in." The man standing behind Maria hesitated then grabbed the girls shoulder only to be sent flying into the ground. "Weak as always father, how have you been?"

"Whore, leave your mother and me before I decide to call the guards to remove you from our sight." Envy didn't know why this irked him so but he felt himself starting to become angry and he decided to say something.

"You think that you can talk to your own daughter like that! What type of people are you!" he shouted turning red in the face.

"Envy, dear stay out of this, I can handle it myself," Maria said not taking her eyes off her parents.

"Envy, Dear? What type of people do you run with now a day since you no longer have our money, tramp?" her father spat at her only to be slapped in the face by Maria.

"You bastard, haven't you heard, I am an apprentice now. I wouldn't offend me so."

"You? An apprentice, I doubt it, who would have taken you in?" laughed her mother.

"If you wish to know so badly, The Flame Alchemist and The Full Metal alchemist. I know for a fact that you have heard of them you cow," Maria spat at her mother before adding, "What type of people are you that you would cast out your own daughter? Then threaten to have the people SHE trained dispose of her, or had you forgotten that part in your haste to erase me from you life?" Maria slapped them both and turned on her heel walking away. Suddenly she stopped, "Though I suppose I should say thank you, by abandoning me you have allowed me to find myself and to have a better life then that of a noble lady's." she continued to walk away the stone leash dragging Envy with her.

"Why did you call me Dear?" asked Envy as he ran to avoid being dragged along.

Maria stopped causing Envy to almost fall over, "I don't know, I guess it's because I've kind of grown attached to you. You're my friend now, weather you want to be or not. And by the way, thank you for standing up for me. You are free to go if you would like." With that said Maria walked off as Envy's leashed sank back into the ground.

Envy was confused, _I'm her friend? But I haven't done anything but curse at her and be forced to follow her around. _He thought as he stared at Maria's retreating back. Suddenly an idea sprang into his head and he ran after her. "Maria! Can I meet you again later?"

Maria thought about this for a second, "Sure, I guess you can. But if you really hate Ed, then I suggest you visit me when no one else is around, it might lead to trouble."

"Ok, thanks Maria, catch you later!" Envy replied smiling. The smile felt so strange on his face, but Envy realized that he meant that smile and he ran off. _There is one thing I don't understand, am I doing this for the stone and Dante, or am I doing this for some other reason?_


	7. Hair

"Maria! You are back late, what took you so long? I thought that you were only going out for a walk," said Winry who was in the kitchen area cooking when Maria walked into the dorm.

"I met," Maria stopped herself and thought, _it seems that Envy doesn't like these people that much, maybe they don't like him. Just to be sure I don't upset anyone I just won't tell them, I'll refer to him as… Eric!_ "I met my old friend, Eric! We went shopping together for a little bit, sorry that I was out so late!"

"Oh, ok!" Winry replied smiling as she flipped the eggs in the pan over, "Do you want an omelet?"

"Sure, I like omelets; I wish I knew how to cook them…" Maria said, glad for the change in topic.

"You don't know how, it is quite simple, here I'll show you!" Maria walked over to stand beside Winry as she nodded. They spent the rest of the time before they went to bed standing in the kitchen laughing and cooking.

Maria woke suddenly in the night, blinking. She glanced at the clock, 11:23, wondering why she was awake she looked at the window to see a figure standing in the tree covered in shadow. Now Maria was curious, and she waited a little longer, watching the figure outside her window when something hit her window. The figure was throwing pebbles at her window! Grumbling Maria stood up and went over to the window; opening it she stuck her head and glared at the figure. "What!"

Envy smiled at Maria's sleepy face and stepped forward so that she could see his face. "I need to ask you something, but I wasn't sure when I could talk to you again. I can't come here during the day; the people here don't like me very much…"

Maria glared at Envy again and then said, "Come on in, if you can manage without breaking your neck." She stood aside in order to let him climb through her window and into her room, "Just don't be too loud, Winry's sleeping in the other room and I'm not sure how sound proof the walls are." Envy nodded making his palm tree hair sway as if the wind was blowing through it; Maria stifled a giggle at the silly picture he made climbing through her window his hair sticking to the metal frames. "Uh, Envy, I think you are having static problems."

"What?" Envy asked puzzled before he noticed his hair was sticking almost completely straight up in its attempts to stick to the frames. He cursed darkly and tried to smooth his hair down, only attempting to make it seem frizzy as well as sticking out at funny angles. Maria laughed outright at this earning a glare from Envy.

"Here," Maria said and she grabbed Envy's hand and pulled him towards the bathroom, not noticing Envy's blush when their hands met.

………..

(Envy's P.O.V.)

Fighting a blush as Maria pulled me to the bathroom in her dorm, I smiled slightly. _I doubt that she has ever son this with that pipsqueak, _He_ probably will never know her as well as I can!_ I thought proudly, conveniently forgetting that Ed spends more time with her in a day then I could.

I flinched slightly when something cold hit the back of my neck, realizing that Maria was spraying my precious emerald hair I contorted my face in sheer disgust.

"When did you last wash this hair?" Maria asked from behind me causing me to have to think hard.

"Uh… A LONG time ago, I don't really like washing my hair, it ruins its shape."

Maria sighed, "It needs to be washed." She looked at me with a mother's stern stare when I spun around my eyes wide.

I had to press my lips together to keep from screaming, "No!" I just barely remembered to be quiet so that we wouldn't wake the wrench wielding demon in the guest room. Shrinking into a corner I continued to shake my head. I felt fear for what seemed like that first time in my life as Maria came towards me with a comb after opening the shower curtain. After that I had mixed feelings, she flung me into the shower clothes on and turned that water on. I was cold! Then she started to scrub my hair with a smelly type of soap that she called shampoo. It felt like my hair was just sighing as the water ran through it causing my efforts at spiking it to go down to drain with every speck of rubble and grime that I had spent centuries collecting in my attempts to locate that bastard father of mine and his damn sons. _Oh those Elric boys, how I loathe them, but now I have something that they will never have, I have Maria as my only friend! I have no other friends that might tear me away from her or cause us to grow apart; I can give this friendship everything my being holds! _I smiled to myself and watched the dirt flow down the drain.

……………….

(Normal P.O.V.)

Dirt flowed down the drain as Maria scrubbed Envy's head causing the spikes to slowly un-form making it look as if Envy had just pulled a brush through his hair then soaked it.

Envy sniffed as he felt the spikes of hair slowly turn into one long shag. "You have beautiful hair," Maria commented trying to cheer Envy up.

"Thanks, I try to take good care of it without WSHING it or CUTTING it," Envy mumbled, before a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Why are you smiling?"

Envy blushed, "Uh, N-nothing, nothing at all, I just thought that I saw a piece of lint flow down the drain," Envy lied as he mentally kicked himself for showing his emotions to this girl.

Maria frowned, by the tome in his voice she could tell that he was lying, but she let it go, figuring that she would find out sooner or later. "I'm going to have to brush your hair, it is pretty tangled!" Maria said as she turned off the water and pulled Envy out of the shower before handing him a towel. "Dry off while I find the brush, sorry for soaking your clothes by the way, but I didn't trust that you would wash your hair and I do NOT want to see you naked!"

"It's no problem, I am just glad that I didn't have to get naked in front of you, that would have been scarring for both of us."

Maria laughed as she rummaged through the drawer next to the sink, "Here the brush is!" she said cheerfully as she held it up for Envy to see. Envy's face flushed, draining it of all color, as he looked at it.

"Is it going to hurt?" he asked as he tried to slink away from Maria.

"No silly, but it will be better to do then to leave it the way it is. It will also make it easier to style back into its spikes," Maria said trying to make Envy feel better about this.

Envy sighed then nodded walking back towards Maria to face the soon to come torture. Maria gently dragged the brush through his hair with the ease of practice and smiled as she felt Envy relax.

"See it's not so bad now is it?" Maria teased.

"I guess not." Envy huffed back at her as she dragged the brush through his hair.

"Ok, the brushing is done, now it is time to place it back in its spikes, ready?"

Envy nodded happily, "Anything to get the spikes back!"

Maria smiled and pulled out a small tub of wax, "I'm going to use this to style it, it shouldn't hurt but I might have to pull a little bit, and try to keep away from warm things for a day or so or the form will be lost."

"Ok!" agreed Envy as Maria started to separate sections of his hair then rubbing them into smooth spikes using the wax in order to make it keeps the proper shape. Envy winced a little as it pulled on his sensitive scalp happy that he was getting his hair back to the way he liked it. A few minutes later the torture was done and Envy swung around to hug Maria. "Thank you!" he exclaimed.

"It was nothing!" Maria said as she returned the hugs. Neither of them heard the disturbance in the other room as Winry started to wake up.

Envy pulled back and looked down into Maria's face, surprised to find that Maria was only a few inches shorter then him, he smiled and was about to say something when his voice caught in his throat. Maria's eyes started to sparkle and they leaned in until their lips were a few scant centimeters away from each other when they heard something in the doorway.

"What the hell is happening here!" yelled Winry as she started to pull out her wench. Maria and Envy sprung apart as if lightning had just struck in between them, Envy's eyes grew wide.

"Damn!" he screamed before jumping out the open bathroom window landing gracefully on the branch outside. Maria started to frown as she watched him run off into the night.

"What the hell, Maria! He is an enemy, didn't we tell you that?" Winry yelled at Maria who was still staring out the window into the darkness.

"No, as a matter of fact you didn't," replied Maria furious as she fought back tears. She turned to Winry, "And what right did you have to interrupt us! You could have at least waited until wee kissed, goddamnit!" she screamed. Realizing what she said she clapped a hand to her mouth as Winry's eyes grew wide.


	8. Homunculi and Winry's crush

"WITH WHO!" screamed Edward at the top of his lungs, "YOU SAW HER ABOUT TO KISS WHO?! PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOU ARE JOKING, WINRY AND IF YOU ARE IT IS NOT FUNNY, IT IS SO NOT FUNNY!"

Winry looked calmly at him and her hand moved to her belt, shutting Ed up right away, "Ed, if you can't control yourself I will hit you so hard that you won't wake up until I am back in Rizenbul!" she said, keeping enough hurt out of her voice so that Ed wouldn't detect her feelings, Maria, however, did. Ed glared at her and mumbled something that sounded like he was saying but it was Envy!

"Winry, please don't resort to violence right now, do it outside of my office," Roy said before turning to Maria who was sulking in a corner. "Maria," Maria's head came up showing that she was fighting to keep tears from her face, "why was Envy with you, anyways? And how did he get past the guards and into your dorm, I assume that you let him in or else Winry would have woken up." Maria ducked her head back down so that her blush wouldn't be noticed, refusing to respond.

Riza came in holding a stack of papers that she set on the Colonel's desk before noting the arrangement of people. "What happened?" she demanded only to get strange looks as a response, "Don't make me repeat myself," she said as she went to grab her gun.

Maria stood and looked at her, "I'll tell you, obviously everyone else here is too idiotic too," the last comment earned her glares from Roy and Ed, Winry just sighed, Maria returned the glares coolly and then turned to look at Riza again. "I let my friend, Envy, into my room so I could talk to him. He had to climb through the window so he wouldn't get caught and his hair got static, so I showed him a trick to keep it from sticking up on end. He hugged me after and was about to kiss me when Miss. Light Sleeper, over there barged in and he ran. She told Ed, who told Roy, who then called me I, and then Ed started to shout at me, Winry threatened to hit him and Roy started to lecture me, when you walked in."

Riza looked at everyone in the room strange then said simply, "Can I talk to you in the hall?" Maria nodded and followed her out leaving everyone else behind in silence. "Now you realize why your being friends with Envy upsets them right?"

""Not really, I just thought that they didn't like each other is all."

"Maria, Envy is a homunculus, an enemy of everything we stand for. Envy has killed many people, he is not even human. He is the body of someone that an alchemist tried to bring back to life, he has no soul. He has been trying to get the philosopher's stone before Ed can. Ed wants it to return his brother's body, but what Envy wants it for no one but the other homunculi know. So far not a single Homunculus has followed any rules but his or her own and has run into many problems and caused many of them as well. Envy is one of the worst ones that Ed has encountered, how you met him I don't think any of us could possibly guess, but he is a bad guy. I hope that you reconsider him as a friend, because it would hurt me greatly if you got hurt." Riza explained to her.

Maria listened quietly and nodded, "Fine Riza, I won't see him again, OK?"

Riza nodded and opened the door allowing Maria to go back inside before following her and shutting the door.

"Did any of you even think to tell Maria why seeing Envy was bad, or did you just start yelling at her?" she asked in more of a stated matter, as if she already knew what had happened. Ed blushed and started to sit down and Roy ducked his head; Winry made no movement, her eyes were focused on Maria.

……………………….

Winry was sitting on the couch working on a sketch for some new designs of automail for Ed when Maria walked into the dorm. She didn't make a sound, just kept drawing, Maria sighed. "Winry, I know that you like Ed."

Winry stopped drawing her knuckles going white, "What did you just say?" she managed to squeeze out of her tight throat.

"You know what I said, it is quite obvious to someone who was trained to realize things like that by her mother. I just want you to know, I don't like Ed like that, and I would never even think of him as more then a friend. I hope you realize that."

Winry looked at Maria and started to smile, "I realize that, but it still doesn't stop me from being just a little jealous of you. Anyone with eyes can see that he looks at you differently then he looks at me."

"Then we need to find some way of switching his affections," Maria stated sitting down next to Winry, glad that their friendship was mended.

Winry smiled and nodded, "Ok, well lets see, I guess the first step is to make him not like you as anything more then a friend and to start to like me." Maria nodded and she pulled out a notepad from her bag, she set it on the coffee table and smiled as they planned truly outrageous things late into the night.

Maria woke again to small pebbles hitting her window, she sat up quickly and opened it stepping to the side to allow the emerald haired man to crawl through the window. She was quickly embraced in a close hug as she hid her face in Envy's chest. "I was hoping that I would be able to see you again," he said as she returned the embrace, "I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to come back."

"I would never allow then to keep you away, I would find a way to be able to meet you again," Maria replied, red-faced. Envy pulled away from her and sat down on her bed.

"So, what do you want to do tonight, run of into the city and party; or go and trash that bastard Colonel's office?" Envy said with an evil smirk as Maria chuckled sitting next to him.

"I wish that I could trash the Colonel's office, but I think he would know who had done it. Revenge is kind of funny that way, let me think. Is there a third option?" she said chuckling, as she looked at Envy.

Envy smiled and thought, "We could stay here, I am sure that we could find something much more fun and challenging then anything else…" he said suggestively.

Maria looked crossly at him, before laughing, "No, I don't think that would be an ok thing to do, I am pretty sure that someone would find us sooner or later."

Envy sighed, "Oh well, it was worth a shot," hearing voices at the door he stopped. "I guess that it my queue to leave," he quickly kissed Maria on the lips and slipped out of the window, leaving Maria to sit on the bed with her hands pressed to her lips.

A?N: Awwww, so fluffy!


	9. Morning crushes

Maria was still holding her hand to her lips when someone knocked on the dorm door, snapped out of her trance she stood up and put on a bathrobe before answering the knock. Roy stood about to knock again in the doorway as another solider walked away from him towards the cafeteria, "Oh, Maria, you're up."

"Only the dead could sleep through that knocking, Mustang," Maria said faking grogginess and adding a yawn for better effects. Roy was obviously convinced.

"Sorry, I just came to check on you, a guard said that he saw Envy jumping over the wall. I wanted to make sure that he hadn't tried coming here."

"No one but you has come here, and Winry is still sleeping, so try to be a little quieter," Maria said motioning to the closed door on the back wall, "I really am thinking about checking on her though, she slept through your knocking, she might be dead."

Roy smiled as Maria smirked looking at Roy, "Ok, well I just wanted to check on you."

"Well, now you have. By the way, do you know the time?" Maria asked him.

"Sometime around three, maybe four by now," Roy said, Maria gasped.

"I almost slept through my practice time! Oh no!" Maria said her eyes going wide and she started to turn around before stopping herself; Roy was standing in the door way looking extremely confused. "Maria looked at him over her shoulder, "Um, why don't you come in?" She offered.

Roy blinked, "Uh, ok, I guess. I have a question though, what do you mean your practice time?" He said stepping through the doorway into the dorm. Maria smiled at him and Roy felt something he hadn't felt before.

"Oh, that. I get up every morning about three in order to practice using alchemy and fighting together. But don't worry, I don't trash anything, I keep it to simple things like rolling while I make the flooring move," she explained as she walked towards her room, leaving Roy sitting on the couch. "I'll be right out; I have to change into some better clothing. She shut the door behind her and sighed as she leaned against it, "Envy! I hope that you don't get caught one of these days!" Maria thought she heard a snicker but decided that it was her nerves playing tricks on her mind, and she stepped away from the door headed towards the dresser. A hand quickly covered her mouth and she was pulled into the shadows.

"Careful now, you wouldn't want us to get caught would you? Roy is sitting out in the living room as right now isn't he?" Maria pulled away a scowl on her face.

"Envy! You shouldn't be here right now, and what do you think you are doing here? There are soldiers looking everywhere for you!" Maria scolded quietly as Envy just smirked evilly. Taking a breath Maria got ready to scold some more but was cut off by Envy pressing his lips to hers; she lost her train of thought. Pulling away she glared at him, "Envy, goddamnit! Stop doing that!" Envy snickered.

"Fine, you have to get dressed anyways, you wouldn't want the bastard out there coming to check on you, would you?" Envy said slinking back into the shadows, "I'll stay in the closet. Oh, and don't worry I won't peek!" Maria scowled some more as Envy closed the closet door.

A few minutes later she emerged from her room in a pair of black cloth pants and a black tank; she was dressed very sensibly for fighting and Roy was interested that she was wearing martial arts shoes that he had seen the masters at dojos wear. Maria smiled at him, "Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?" she asked politely.

"Coffee, please, I need some caffeine right now. It is so early in the morning, I feel like I should still be in bed," Roy said before covering a yawn.

"Then why aren't you in bed? Did you get up just to check up on me?" Maria asked him with a raised eyebrow, one again Roy felt a tug at his heart at the sight of her.

"No, I was trying to finish some last minute paperwork that I, um, didn't get to yesterday," Roy said blushing, before a question popped into his mind, "I have a question for you, what is your age, you never said."

Maria pretended to look shocked as she set the kettle on to boil, "Sir! Don't you know it is rude to ask a girl her age?" she said pretending to be offended, Roy looked like he was about to laugh at her "lady-like" reaction. "Wow, I just sounded like my mom! Disturbing… Oh well, and I am almost 17, by the way."

"17, I thought you were most likely in the range of 15!" he said shocked.

"I thank you for the compliment, I think," Maria said with a raised eyebrow as she handed Roy a cup of steaming coffee before standing in the middle of the room. "I'm about to start my morning practice by the way, so please try not to distract me for a moment." Roy nodded. Maria took a deep breath then started off by bringing her foot to her ear in a practiced kick, she then spun around bringing it down at the same time before slipping down to the ground as if she was dodging a low kick. Roy watched her smoothly and quietly work her way through the routine smiling.

_I never knew that she was so nimble and flexible. I wonder if I could get her to wear a miniskirt; whoa hang on a second, she is just barely half my age, jeeze! God, no matter how I look at this I feel so strange, I feel an attraction to her but at the same time I am repulsed by it, I really have issues… _He argued mentally with himself.

"Roy, are you ok? You seem to be staring into space. Is something wrong?" Maria's voice snapped him back into reality as he figured out that she had just finished her routine.

Roy looked at her, "N-no, no, nothing's wrong, I'm just tired, just spaced out a second is all." Roy lied as he tried not to blush having been caught day dreaming like that, he was also just a little embarrassed that she was standing in front of him sweat soaked and that his eyes wouldn't take themselves off of her.

"Ok…" Maria said, "I'm going to go take a shower, so if you could leave… I'll see you either at the café or in your office later ok?" Maria held open the door for him and smiled sweetly.

Roy nodded, "Sure, umm, about the cup of coffee.."

"take it with you, I'll just get the cup later, Ok?"

"Sure, well see you later Maria." Roy walked out of the door and smiled at her before walking down the hall, his hand clutching the mug. For once he was glad that he was wearing white gloves, they covered the fact that his hands were shaking.

_What a strange man… _Maria thought watching Roy walk down the hall before shutting the door and heading towards her room. Shutting her door she turned around and looked into the shadows. The closet door was shut, but she wouldn't out it past Envy to have slipped away while she was gone; or worse yet, hid somewhere else in the room in order to surprise her. Maria cleared her throat unsure, and was startled by Envy opening the closet door, rolling her eyes she smiled at him.

"Is he gone yet? It felt like I was in there forever!" Envy complained.

"Maria stifled a laugh, "Yes he is gone," she crossed the room in order to stand directly in front of Envy looking up the few inches in order to look him in the face, "You really are impatient aren't you?"

"Belive me, I wasn't named after a sin because I was virtuous." Maria laughed and hugged him. Envy blinked, surprised by the sudden affection, slowly he wrapped his arms around her.

Maria smiled as she buried her face against Envy's chest, she turned her neck up towards his face pulling him down forcing their lips to meet.

Envy allowed her to pull him down to kiss her. They kissed for a few seconds then broke apart, "I need to get going soon Maria, the other sin's have gotten a little suspicious about how long I stay watching you. They think that I have fallen for you."

"Well, haven't you?" Maria teased looking at him.

"Of course, but if they knew that it would ruin the reputation of a bad ass that I have spent so much time establishing!"

Maria laughed and kissed Envy again, pulling away she smiled, Then I guess you had best be going then," she kissed him again then stepped away from him and opened the window, "This time try not to get seen."

Envy chuckled and slid out of the window and jumped to the ground. He was gone in the blink of an eye.


	10. She has control

"So, Envy, how was, um, watching the girl?" Lust snickered as Envy walked into the small room that they had gotten last minute for the mission Dante had sent them on.

Envy sighed, "It is the most boring thing ever! All I do is sit in a tree watching her flirt with every single man walking by!" Envy lied as he threw up his hands for embellishment. "I really don't see why I got the boring job! You guys get to go around killing people and destroying things while I am stuck babysitting a little slut! God, she could be another Lust!"

Lust glared at the "anguished" sin, "Well, at least she hasn't figured out that you have been following her yet; though I did hear that you had been spotted by some guards going into the base."

Envy glared at the slut who was feeding cookies to the lump called Gluttony. "At least I was able to slip past them; those fools really fall for the stupid military personnel trick every time! They don't even get suspicious! You however would have raised an alarm because you would have had to either play a victim or kill them all."

Lust scowled, "Don't flatter yourself Envy, you might find that I don't appreciate it." Envy laughed.

………………………………………

"What is coming over me? Why do I feel this way when I look at her!? I don't understand, I have never felt this way before!" Roy mumbled to himself as he sat at his desk staring into the cup of coffee that had been cold for a long time. Maria's mug sat next to him drained and washed, he had thought it would be rude to give back a dirty dish so he had washed it. He was still muttering when Riza walked in.

"Sir? Are you alright?" She asked setting her paperwork on the table in the middle of the room; she walked over to him and set her hand on his forehead. Roy pulled away and mumbled something about being ok, Riza didn't believe him. She pried his hands off the coffee cup and took it to the sink where she emptied it, turning around she caught a glimpse of something on Roy's face; with shocking realization she knew they were tears. "Sir, are you sure you are ok? You don't seem very well…"

"I'm ok, I am just so confused. Why does it make me so confused?" Roy stammered as tears started to roll down his face, now Riza was really starting to get scared, she hadn't seen Roy cry since Mae's funeral.

"Sir, why don't you go home? It doesn't seem like you are in a mental state that will be acceptable for anyone else to see…" Riza walked over to him and picked him up; she propped him up on her shoulder and walked him out of the room; towards his dorm.

When Maria came in she was surprised to see that no one else was here, she was turning to leave when Havoc came in, puffing away happily on a cigarette. "Hey Maria! Where is everyone?" he said looking around the room, still puffing away.

"I don't know… maybe they aren't here yet?" Maria answered uncertainly, looking toward Roy's desk. "Could they be in the cafeteria?"

Havoc cocked his head, "Maybe, but I just came from there and I hadn't seen them."

Maria pursed her lips and just as she was about to respond Riza walked in the door looking completely flustered. "Riza! What's the matter, and where is the Colonel?"

Riza looked at Maria and sighed, "I just had to carry the Colonel to his dorm room, it seems that he is in a state of confused depression. He wouldn't tell me why though, not even when I pointed my gun at him, he blinked. That's it!" she said as she brushed her hair from her face. She sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands, "I really have no idea what has gotten into him lately!" she sighed frustrated and pulled her papers towards her.

Maria frowned and sat down next to her, "Can I help?" she said gesturing at the papers.

Riza nodded and pushed some of the papers towards her, "These are the basic ones, if you don't know what to put on some of them ask me." Maria nodded and glanced at the papers, they seemed simple enough.

About fifteen minutes later Riza glanced over at Maria to see her furrowing her brow and picking at the skin on her lips. "Um, Riza…"

"Yes?"

"What is the Colonel's office number?" she asked looking at the paper.

"Hmmm, here, I'll write it down for you," Riza said thinking hard she scribbled a number down and pushed the paper towards Maria.

"Thanks," said Maria as she copied the number onto a small dotted-line.

………………………………….

Roy sat on the edge of his bed staring at the ground, what was he supposed to do? He blushed every time she smiled at him and he, the flame alchemist, had a simple crush that he couldn't control! He was always the smooth talker, the girl magnet and yet one girl had fooled him, and she didn't like him as anything but a friend and teacher! He sighed still studing the ground, why couldn't he get control obver himself and the situation? He asked him self the same question over and over again; each time getting the same answer from himself, _because, there is no way you can control the situation when _she _won't allow you to have control. She is in control of everything that concerns her in her life and she does not like disorder; you cause disorder therefore she will not allow you to have control. _He sighed at the defiant part of his mind scrabbling to find another answer when a knock sounded on his door. "Come in."

Ed opened the door at looked at Roy, "She's gotten to you too, hasn't she?" he said as he closed the door staring at the pitiful colonel.

"What do you mean? No one has gotten to me," Roy snapped lamely as his face clearly showed that he was lying.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about you dip shit!" said Ed as he sat down next to Roy.

Roy sighed and nodded, the fight going out of him, "Why though, why did she get to me? I was sure that no one would ever effect me the way that she does!" he exclaimed getting up and punching the wall before starting to pace.

Ed shrugged, "I don't know, but sitting up here sulking isn't going to help the situation."

"You sound like Riza."

"You sound like Al when he finds a new kitten."

"Fuck you."

"No thank you, I don't swing that way." Ed snickered, dodging Roy's attempt at a punch.

Roy sighed and sat down again, "I just don't get it! I'm always in control of the situation, but it seems that she has taken that control from me and won't give it back!"

Ed nodded, "It's the same way with me, but I'm sucking it up and going on with my life, you should too."

"It's easy for you because midgets don't have as much room for emotions as people of normal size do."

"Who are you calling so small that I don't have feelings because they wouldn't fit in my body!" Ed screamed standing up as Roy started to laugh; Ed flipped him off.

A/N: Yes I know, it has been a while since I updated last but I am finally done with chapter 10! My brain cramp has stopped and now I just have to start making room in my schedule to type my ideas before I start another random brain cramp of ideas and have to make way too many drabbles trying to jumpstart my brain! Reviews are appreciated!


	11. Paperwork and More shopping

A/N I need reviews! They are the lifeline of all writers; my stories will not be nearly as good as if I had new ideas from people I don't even know! Please review or else I'll, um… I can't really do anything but… wait a second! I will write sucky chapters with WAY to much fluff and nothing else! So review or the next chapter will be as mushy as your mother's romance novels!

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Roy walked into the office looking crisp and clean; he looked around and noticed that Maria wasn't there. He sighed inwardly, his emotions stuck trying to decide he was happy that she wasn't or if he was sad. He sat down at his desk and pulled his papers towards him, sighing out loud he started to sign his name of the dotted lines: Roy mustang, Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist…. On papers reporting things like the current situation on the supplies for the cafeteria to how the inspections for the state alchemists had turned out as.

Riza looked skeptically at Roy, "Are you doing _work_?" she said dragging the word work out.

"So what, it isn't like I wouldn't have to do it later anyways. Plus this gives you more time for what ever you want to do instead of pointing a gun at me to make me even glance at the papers," was the dry reply as Roy scribbled his name on another dotted line. Riza sighed and looked at her own work which sat in neat piles already completed.

"I'm already done with all my work; Maria helped me with most of it."

Roy's eye twitched at the word Maria but he kept his cool, "Speaking of Maria, where is she? She's usually here by now."

"She went to go buy supplies for supper; it seems that she's making a special dinner for Winry."

Roy sniffed.

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Maria picked up a tomato and gave it a slight squeeze, it seemed firm enough, but she wasn't to sure about it. Looking closer she noticed a slight discoloration on the side of it; she frowned and put it back in the pile. _It seems that their tomatoes are already starting to go bad. _She thought as she looked around the market place looking for another vegetable vendor. She spotted one a few feet away and took off at a brisk walk headed towards it. She barely noticed the green haired person had come towards her and was now walking beside her. She glanced beside her and smiled, "Hello Envy!" he remarked cheerfully.

Envy smirked at her, "I never seem to be able to surprise you. What are you doing?"

"Shopping for vegetables, I'm making dinner for Winry tonight."

"Why didn't you just get your vegetables from the vendor you were just at?"

"The tomatoes had started to turn, so I came over here. Want to help me look for some?" she said inspecting a tomato closely.

"Sure I guess, but I don't now how to shop. I have never shopped before."

"I'll teach you, here what you do is you pick a good sized tomato like this one," she picked a particularly large tomato up and placed it in Envy's hand, "Give it a slight squeeze and if its firm them it's good. After you check to see if it's firm or not, look at the color of its skin, you want a bright red. If it looks green that means it's not ripe and if it is brownish, or yellowish that means that it is going bad."

Envy nodded and tried squeezing the tomato he was holding, he squeezed to hard. Grimacing he wiped juice from his face and dropped the remains onto the ground, Maria laughed.

"Try again!" she suggested handing another tomato to him.

Envy took it and gave it a softer squeeze, this time he didn't squish it. It seemed pretty firm, but Envy noticed that it had some green on it. "Green means that it is bad right?" Maria nodded and picked one up inspecting it. Envy put the one he was holding back and picked up another one, it seemed firm and it was a bright red, no green, brown or yellow. "Is this one good?" he asked holding out his tomato.

Maria looked at it, gave it a slight squeeze and nodded, "Good job, Envy! It seems that you have an eye for vegetables." Envy smiled and placed the tomato into Maria's basket, Maria handed some money to the vendor and walked away, Envy following her.

Lust crouched behind a bush snickering, "Wow Envy, she seems like a big flirt. She's practically throwing herself at _everyone_. I can see why you hate her so much," she whispered sarcastically as she turned on her heels and walked back to the hideout.

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When Winry walked into the house she smiled sniffing the air. Something smelled good. "Oh, Winry, you're home! I made dinner, yours is just being served up, I figured that tonight would be a good time to put plan Crush into action."

Winry smiled and grabbed a handful of silverware setting them neatly on the table she laughed. "I guess it would be a good time, I am just a little embarrassed about my part tough."

"Oh! Don't worry about it, I'm sure that we can pull it off and that it won't embarrass you!" Maria said cheerfully placing several dishes of food on the table followed by plates, a pitcher of juice, and some napkins. She sat down in a chair and offered some potatoes to Winry who was starting to shovel some stewed tomatoes onto her plate.


	12. Winry's fighting practice and Ed's duel

Maria walked into the office followed closely by Winry, "What is she doing here today?" asked Roy studying Winry who seemed to be hiding behind Maria.

"She wants to learn how to fight without hitting people on the head with wrenches, I thought that I could teach her during fighting practice today!" said Maria smiling at Roy, his heart melted.

"Very well, but she better not get in the way, and I expect that you will also work the hour and a half that you are required to separately from her," stated Roy giving in to Maria's wishes without so much of a fight. Maria smiled at him and rushed out to the practice courts dragging Winry behind her. "Phase one in progress," she whispered in Winry's ear as they ran off.

Taking a place at the edge of the court Maria positioned Winry so all the soldiers on the court could see her, many of them started to whisper watching her. "Now, the basic rule of fighting is to never let your guard down," said Maria slightly loudly showing Winry how to stand in a basic fighting stance, with her fist to the side of her face and her feet well braced. "In order to block a punch is aimed and try to deflect it with your arm. Like so." She moved her arm in front of her stomach and pushed it slightly forward, "Now you try." Winry did the same thing and smiled as Maria praised her, "Now it's time to try and block my punch, I won't seriously punch you, but still try to avoid my fist ok?"

Winry nodded and took the fighting stance Maria had just taught her, she felt stupid doing this where everyone could see her. She could also tell that they were enjoying watching her. About an hour later Maria stopped and smiled at Winry who was panting, "Let's stop now, ok?" Winry nodded and walked off the court taking a seat on one of the benches. Maria sat down next to her, "It's time for me to do my fighting practice with the others, you can stay and watch if you want, but it probably wouldn't be that much fun."

"I'll watch for a little, but I'll go back to the dorm if I get bored, ok?" Maria nodded and left Winry to join the others coming form Roy's office.

"Maria, today you're paired off against Ed," said Roy smiling at the Chibi who glared at him.

"Fine whatever; let's just get this over with." Maria walked out to the middle of the court away from where the others were practicing, Ed followed her. "Let's get this over with, ok? I'm starting to get hungry."

Ed smiled at her and took a fighting stance, "Then let's hurry up and start," he started to circle her as Maria took a fighting stance.

"Begin!" shouted Roy from the sidelines sitting next to Winry, "This should be fun to watch huh?" he said to Winry glancing over at her. Winry just blinked.

Maria watched the chibi circle her and waited, Ed was going to strike first if she had anything to do with it. Ed was growing tired of waiting, Maria could tell. Smiling Ed tried to kick her legs out from underneath of her only to find out the Maria was a good jumper. Maria smiled as she landed nimbly on her feet and waited for Ed to attack her again, this time he tried coming at her from behind. She easily dodged his blow by stepping to the side and stepping back some so that she was behind him. She blew on the back of his neck as he looked for her startling him; he stumbled and turned only to find that Maria had already moved so that she was still behind him. She smiled and pushed him forward, then resumed a fighting stance. Ed caught himself before he fell and turned, he was getting angry. He charged at her only to be kicked in the stomach and have his arm twisted behind his back. Maria laughed as Ed cursed and hooked his feet out from underneath of him as she let go of his arms. Ed landed face first in the dirt. Cursing more fluently he stood up and kicked at Maria who caught his leg by the ankle and kicked him in the stomach again. Ed cursed once more but was silenced by Maria grabbing his arm and twirling him around in a circle before kicking his shoulder and sending him flying. Maria was starting to get REALLY hungry now and she rushed at him and punched him on the cheek sending him to the ground, she jumped into the air. With a series of flips and turns she landed next to where Ed was laying and brought her elbow down to rest gently on his throat without hurting him. Ed cursed as he stood up. Maria smiled and looked at Roy.

"Good enough," Roy said looking at Maria. Ed glared at Roy; Maria just smiled. Roy mentally kicked himself as he felt his expression soften; Maria was to busy teasing the Chibi to notice the change in Roy's expression, Winry however did.

"So, anyone else you want me to fight?" asked Maria looking at Roy, "I was really hoping that I could go eat."

Roy sighed, "You can go eat, I think that you have done enough for today, but tomorrow we need to work on the punch of yours. It looked slightly weak."

Maria's smile widened and she ran off towards the cafeteria.


	13. More Crushes and another plan

"Hey! Maria, wait up!" shouted Winry chasing after the girl who was running to the cafe at top speed. Maria looked over her shoulder and slowed to a walk as Winry caught up with her, "Hey, I just thought you ought to know, I think that Roy has a crush on you too."

Maria groaned, "Oh no, Riza likes HIM though! I don't even think of him more then a teacher, maybe a friend, I haven't decided yet though!" Maria whacked her head and grimaced.

Winry felt her face flush as she looked behind her at the gun slinging woman following Roy silently. "Riza? Are you sure?"

Maria nodded, "I guess I'm going to have to come up with a plan of action about this situation too, first off is talk with Riza." Winry swallowed hard.

"Hey! Riza!" shouted Maria as Riza sat down next Roy at a different table, Riza glanced at her, "Can I talk to you for a second, I won't keep you from your lunch for long." Riza glanced at her food and then stood and follow Maria out of the cafe.

"what," she said crossly as her stomach growled.

"Do you like the Colonel?" asked Maria simply, deciding that the safer course of action was to get to the point quickly.

Riza looked at Maria and raised on eyebrow, "He is my superior officer; it is not my job to like him."

"You're avoiding the question, I can see that you like him slightly more then a comrade, maybe even more then a friend."

Riza whipped her gun out and pointed it at Maria, "What are you ipling exactly?" she asked with steel in her voice.

Maria didn't even blink, "You know exactly what I mean, I can see it in your eyes whenever he laughs, smiles, even sighs." Riza herself sighed and lowered her gun.

"If you tell anyone else I will not hesitate to shoot you," she clipped her gun back into its holder.

"Winry already knows, but I think she can help us. You see, I have it from a reliable source that Roy has a crush on me, I'm going to use that information to switch his affections. I already have a plan in action with Winry and Ed, now it's time for you and Roy." Riza looked at her skeptically and sighed.

"Fine, but lets talk about this in my dorm, AFTER lunch." Maria nodded and headed off to her table where Winry was already waiting, she was soon joined by some young soldiers who she shoot glares at. Riza's eyes narrowed as she looked at a particular one that Maria allowed to sit next to her, that shade of hair was familiar…

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A/N: As was requested, I will include slightly more fluffy fluff in this chapter, all who don't like fluff blame my reviewers! See the power of reviewing? So hurry up and review, or else I will isten to all the ones who review and complain it is not fluffy enough! Reveiws are what writers use to please readers, if you are not pleased then review and I will add what you want in next! insert evil laughter

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Maria smiled at the green-haired soldier sitting next to her and laughed as he said something, Riza watched her like a hawk. Kind of ironic since her name is Hawkeye isn't it? Something about that soldier just didn't sit well with her.

Roy noticed that Riza was slightly tenser then she was usually and decided that it was time to try and perk her up before she scared away everyone else. He poked her elbow and smiled at her when she looked at him, "What's up? You seem on edge, something wrong?" he asked, Riza glared at him.

"Touch me again and this 22 millimeter bullet goes into your head," she said looking back at Maria before adding "Something isn't right about the soldier that Maria is talking too. He seems familiar, but I just can't put my finger on how!" she sighed at picked at her food, her thoughts on Maria and her companion.

"Maybe we should invite him over, see who he is," suggested Roy looking at the boy sitting next Maria, now that Riza mentioned it something did seem off about that soldier.

"No, Maria would probably get mad and kick your ass in the practice courts," Riza stated not caring how she sounded; Roy was taken by surprise at how Riza was talking to him. He had never heard her talk that way!


End file.
